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Today most of my 7th graders finished their art assignments early. Two of them asked, "May I please make some hearts?" After getting out the clay and showing them how to use the rubber heart molds I made, they went to work. Everyone was very excited and inspired. Students started teaching other students how to mold and shape the hearts as more kids joined our group. I heard many children say, "This is so fun!" and "These are so cool, I love making these!"
While we worked, I took the opportunity to tell them about Art Creation Foundation for Children in Haiti which benefits from 100% of the money raised from the sale of the hearts. Jaws dropped when they learned the average wage in Haiti is less than one US dollar per day. They started asking questions like, "Why don't they come to America?", "Why don't they go somewhere else, somewhere better??", "Do they have medicine/food/shelter?" And just lots of "WHY?!" My own heart felt so full of compassion both for the families struggling in Haiti and for my own students who were struggling to imagine and understand such abject poverty on such a mass scale.
I said, "Do you realize that each one of these hearts you are making will earn $1.00 for the children at ACFFC? Do you know what one dollar can do?" I opened one of the pamphlets from the foundation which details recurring expenses of the foundation. Students eagerly passed it around, reading aloud, "Did you know that $130.00 gives all the kids there art supplies for a full month?!" and "Look! Only $60.00 pays for all emergency medical care for all the kids for a whole month!"
I could see the wheels turning in their minds. "Hey! How many hearts did we make so far?" Everyone watched and waited as I counted. In less than one half hour, the group of about 10 students had created 150 hearts.
"A hundred and fifty?! That fast?? That's more than three month's wages! That's more than enough for art supplies for all the kids for a whole month!" I tell you, they were literally grinning from ear to ear. And as the students log time on this effort, they receive student service learning hours which they are required to earn before high school. I don't know why I was so amazed that the kids just "got it". They truly did. The didn't need to be convinced or persuaded. They learned of others' suffering, saw a concrete way they could do something tangible to help and literally dove right in, working happily together, making as many hearts as they could in the time we had today.
"And guess what?", I added. "Now you can say that something you made is being sold in an internationally respected museum, The American Visionary Art Museum." They only had to think about that for a second or two and were just grinning again. Two students pleaded with me to be allowed to take home molds, stamps and clay. Said one girl, "This is going to be my weekend activity ALL weekend! And I want to make a Heart Chart for the classroom! We can track how many hearts we make!"
"Great idea!", I said. (I so love my job....)
Now that the first week of school has come and gone, I was able to put up a large display about Art Creation Foundation for Children plus some of the beautiful artwork made by the children there. In this picture, you can see a bus, two hanging ornaments (hummingbird and fish), a bowl and a basket of fruit. The display includes print material from the foundation (posters and pamphlets), black and white photos of the hearts and the "objective" of the project as it relates to my students and how they will be involved. Although for this year, it as a 6th grade level student service learning project (because I teach every 6th grader in the school) I do hope some of my 7th and 8th graders will get the opportunity to pick up a half hour or hour here and there by helping out. Many have already expressed an interest to do so!
One of the many unexpected graces I am experiencing by being a part of this effort is the simple fact that I feel encouraged and uplifted every day when I look at the art made my the children in Jacmel. I might not ever get the chance to meet the children who's lives are being changed by Art Creation Foundation in Haiti. Nonetheless, through the visual arts, I am now connected to them! I hope my students will feel the same :-)
(photo: Hearts for Haiti classroom display c) nancyleemitchell, 2009)
Yesterday (Saturday), I took a batch of about 100 hearts down to the Visionary Art Museum in Federal Hill (Baltimore, MD). There were a lot of people all over the museum. It looked like something special was going on--a free tour, some other promotional things....
The gift store was busy as ever. I handed over the hearts and into the little bucket they went, right by the register. One of the brochures about the Art Creation Foundation for Children is set up right in the little bucket along with a sign that reads:
"Hope Hearts for Haiti-$1.00".
Literally 10 seconds after they were put out on the counter, a woman asked what they were. Shawn, store papa and local artist himself, explained that they go to support the children in Haiti. The customer bought five right away! That is almost one week's wages for someone living under the Universal Poverty Line, as so many people in Haiti do.
I bought all kinds of fun goodies---it truly is the best gift store anywhere, hands down---and left feeling pretty hopeful myself :-)
(photo: Avam banner, photo credit: travelandleisure.com/Timothy Gardner)
This past week has been the first back-to-school-week for staff where I teach. Today I met with the director for Student Service Learning at my school to finalize details for the Hearts for Haiti Student Service Learning Project. I initially thought it could be an after-school experience for the children. However, one of the stipulations of student service learning is that it take place during the school day. We ironed out all the details and agreed that this would be best suited to take place during my 6th grade classes each quarter. I was really happy about this for many reasons:
1. I get to repeat the experience for a new group of kids every nine weeks when the class lists change.
2. Having it during the school day ensures that the children receive credit for student service learning hours.
3. The 6th grade social studies classes study the history of many different regions of Africa. Haiti was the very first independent black nation when slaves revolted from their French masters in about 1804.
4. The age for children who get accepted into Art Creation Foundation for Children in Jacmel must be between 6 to 11 years of age. My 6th graders are about 11 years old and just starting in a new school. They can relate to the age of the children in Jacmel who may just be starting their new school.
5. Since I teach every 6th grader in the school over the course of a year, about 240 children will have participated in Hearts for Haiti by June!!!!
Studies do show that if children of the middle school age are exposed to opportunities to volunteer and give selflessly to others, they are statistically far more likely to become philanthropic adults! Giving never really stops. The ripples of good it creates can continue on and on, from one person to the next.
Here's to making great waves!!
(photo: blue heart in hand c) nancyleemitchell 2009)
My students and I molded a huge batch of hearts at the end of this past school year. We were able to stamp most of them with the word HOPE, but some dried out before we got to them. Actually, I didn't even know they were in the bin. We had layered damp paper towels and plastic over them to keep them fresh. I discovered them in the bin about 2 weeks ago. Thing is, we never got around to stamping them.
After staining the bottom of the hearts with a red-brown engobe, I thought about it for a few minutes, then decided to paint the word Haiti in a brilliant turquoise blue on top. A bright color seemed appropriate. When Ted Frankel, proprieter of The Sideshow (the Visionary Art Museum's gift shop where the hearts are sold) returned from Jacmel recently, he described the houses on the coast, which were painted in a tremendous array of bright colors. "Paint companies send all their leftover colors down there. So all the houses are painted bright yellows, blues, reds...you name it". At least pre-fire, the turquoise is such a strong contrast to the red-brown that the letters seem to shimmer.
I will be firing a huge batch of hearts tomorrow. I can't wait to see how they turn out!!
Working with the hearts is teaching me that people really want to give. People want opportunities to "do good" and effect positive change in the world. Recently, I have received a number of emails from kind-hearted people asking to purchase the hearts directly from me. Although I don't yet have an official way to do this en masse, I have been addressing each request on a one-on-one basis. Without fail so far, each person has been comfortable trusting the honor system: I request that they make a donation of their choice directly to the secure donation link on the Art Foundation Creation for Children site (there is a link on this blog to the right), and then I send them the hearts. So far, each person has wanted to and been willing to donate above and beyond the $1.00 each price of the hearts. For example, one person donated 20 dollars but wanted only 12 hearts. This has seemed to be the norm for people who contact me directly. I am so cheered and encouraged by everyone's generosity!
If you haven't visited the link to the art foundation on this page, please do yourself a favor and click on it now. When you read what the impact of what we would consider to be a small amount of money is to the lives and futures of these children, you can't help but be moved. Jacmel, Haiti is the cultural arts center of the country. It is very fitting that this foundation is located there. The children there are learning the traditional art skills of their hometown. There is the very real opportunity for them to put these art skills to real use in their adult life. Jacmel is the host to the very important Carnival festival. Every Carnival participant wears a mask made from the traditional papier mache of the region. The fact that the students are learning these marketable skills from local masters means they may have a much better quality of life as adults.
Education is highly respected in Haiti, and school is compulsory. The problem is that many of the parents who want desperately to send their children to school can not because of annual fees. Art Creation Foundation for Children is providing arts and academic training to 60 of the most needy children in Jacmel. It is heartbreakingly true that they have to turn people away every day. 60 pupils is currently their capacity. But as children graduate, spaces open up for others. I feel grateful to be able to help support this worthy foundation, and honored that I can facilitate that same experience for my students. The only way things are going to get better for the world's most vulnerable children is if we are all willing to help each other, one day at a time.
(photo: Jim Dine, "Hearts and Hammers", 1982, etching with hand coloring 48" x 65.5", credit: The Joseloff Gallery)
